CODING CLASSES

Do you enjoy gaming? Imagine how much fun it would be to create your own games with your characters, your imagined worlds, and your rules! Learn the core fundamentals of coding and code your own games in this beginner-level course using Scratch. Let others join in the fun by easily sharing your games. Two levels with increasing complexity offered based on age and coding experience.

Scratch by MIT is an open-source block-based coding platform which makes coding colorful, intuitive and fun for kids.

Recommended for ages: 8 – 14 years

Prerequisites: No prior coding experience necessary for beginners!

Concepts covered: Algorithmic thinking, sequencing, events, variables, loops, conditionals, Boolean logic, operators (arithmetic, comparison, logical), functions, cloning, debugging

Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of the course, kids will be able to:

• Understand the mechanics behind many games they see and play.
• Logically break down a game into its elements and write its algorithm.
• Conceptually understand and apply programming fundamentals like sequencing, variables, loops, events and conditionals. These concepts are not limited to just game design.
• Code many 2D games on their own using these fundamentals.
• Look at a piece of faulty code and catch and rectify bugs in it.

Duration:
Beginner: 12 sessions of 1 hour each, to be covered in 4 to 6 weeks
Intermediate: 16 sessions of 1 hour each, to be covered in 8 to 10 weeks

Ever dreamt of that perfect app that you think would be so cool to have? Wait no more! Give your idea wings by building your own mobile app. Learn the basics of UI/UX design and coding to make user-friendly apps on the Thunkable platform that can even be published on the App Store and the Google Playstore. Two levels with increasing complexity offered based on age and coding experience.

Thunkable is a visual programming platform that enables anyone, even kids, to build fully functional mobile apps in an intuitive and fun way.

Recommended for ages: 8-14 years

Prerequisites: Some familiarity with block-based coding (on Scratch, code.org, or any other similar platform).

Concepts covered: Algorithmic thinking, front end vs back end, UI design, objects, sequencing, events, variables, loops, conditionals, Boolean logic, operators (arithmetic, comparison, logical), functions, local vs cloud data, phone sensors.

Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of the course, kids will be able to:

• Understand what the front end and back end of a mobile app are and how they are designed.
• Identify various UI (user interface) elements of any app and understand their roles and differences.
• Conceptually understand programming fundamentals like sequencing, global vs cloud variables, loops, events, conditionals. These concepts are not limited to just app development.
• Apply these fundamentals to code the backend logic of their apps.
• Create their own iOS and Android apps that are publishable on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.
• Look at a piece of faulty code and catch and rectify bugs in it.
• Picture how many of the apps they use on a regular basis must have been designed.

Duration: 16 sessions of 1 hour each, to be covered in 8 to 10 weeks

Join us and learn how to code beautiful, complex, geometric patterns on your computer that combine concepts from math, art and computer science. Through this, get introduced to Python, an extremely diverse and popular text-based coding language, which finds application in GUI design, game design, data science and artificial intelligence, just to name a few.

Kids who have never done text-based coding before will appreciate and enjoy how the concepts from block-based coding map seamlessly to Python.

For the more mathematically inclined, the course also offers a sneak peek into fractals – stunning geometrical patterns found everywhere in nature. Be amazed at the beauty of nature by understanding more about fractals and recreating them on your screen!

The course will round out with solving several word problems using Python, allowing the learners to apply the newly-learned concepts to contexts other than art.

Recommended for ages: 12-14 years

Prerequisites: Familiarity with basic programming concepts either through block-based coding (Scratch, code.org, etc.) or text-based coding (QBasic, Java, C++, etc.). Good understanding of basic geometric shapes, sides and angles. An interest in maths would be helpful..

Concepts covered: Algorithmic thinking, flowcharts, sequencing, events, variables, loops, conditionals, Boolean logic, operators (arithmetic, comparison, logical), functions, lists, debugging.

Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of the course, kids will be able to:

• Logically break down a complex geometric art form into its building blocks and figure out the math to recreate it.
• Conceptually understand and apply programming fundamentals like sequencing, variables, loops, events and conditionals in Python. These concepts are not limited to just digital art.
• Create several geometric art patterns on their own using these fundamentals.
• Appreciate how concepts in block-based coding translate to a text-based coding language like Python.
• Understand the meaning of fractals and the math behind them.
• Solve general word problems in Python using the same concepts that apply to digital art.
• Look at a piece of faulty code and catch and rectify bugs in it.

Duration: 20 sessions of 1 hour each, to be covered in 8 to 10 weeks